


Haunt Me in My Dreams (Life Begins Anew)

by SansThePacifist



Series: Naruto Stories [13]
Category: Naruto
Genre: All that stuff, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Battle, Battle Scenes, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Dark, Deja Vu, Dissociation, Eventually Obito remembers, Everyone Lives In the End, Everyone dies at least once, Fight Scenes, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Ground hog day sort of time-loop, Hatake Kakashi-centric, Hatake clan kekkei-genaki, I had worked on this for at LEAST three days, Kakashi really needs a hug, Loss of Motivation, Minor Character Death, Not Happy, Only more... deathy, Sharingan, Ships can be taken as you want, The amount of times that he loops is vague but you can assume that it is in the two hundreds, Time Loop, Time Travel, Torture? I guess, Violence, kind of, lack of motivation, only not really, thats subjective really, theres a bit more than canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 14:35:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15731400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SansThePacifist/pseuds/SansThePacifist
Summary: He thought it was some sort of dream. There was no way it could be real. Everything thing went the same as it did before he woke up. He got the same wound on his arm from the same person with the blade. He watched his teammate get crushed once again and instead of crying like he did before, he froze. It was some kind of nightmare and he wasreallynot liking it. Except he woke up and the day repeated over and over andover-And he was so,sotired.(Kannabi Bridge Time-Loop)





	Haunt Me in My Dreams (Life Begins Anew)

The day, for him, had been a rollercoaster. Obito was late, he got irritated. Rin got kidnapped, his world was cut in half.  Obito went after her- to try and save her, Kakashi lost an eye. Obito got his sharingan, Obito got crushed under rocks. Obito died, Kakashi got a _new_ eye. It was, truly, a nightmare. When Minato had come, it was to a field full of blood, Kakashi standing in the middle of it. Rin told him everything, the Hatake was too distant to respond according to the situation around him.

Kakashi needed to protect Rin though, he had _promised._

 

He jolted awake, scaring the puppies lying around him, and panted- covering his eye and feeling for any sign of the injury he had only moments before. His pack nuzzled him, some only leaning upon him or nudging at him to take his attention away from that terrible, terrible nightmare he had. He was- He was _sure_ he had a scar, it had felt so _real._

Besides that, the day repeated as before, just like it did in his dream. He had put on his armor, met up in the place. Everyone came at the exact same time as they did in- _Whatever_ that was.

He didn't know what to make of it, but he _knew_ that he was far quieter than what his team had expected from him. He made a remark about how late Obito was, again, but it was half-assed because his throat was _too tight_ and he didn't know what to do. Minato had gazed at him in worry, _especially_ as he handed him a hiraishin-kunai. ~~Kami, how did he~~ ~~_know_ that Minato-sensei was going to give it to him as a gift? How could a dream have had predicted the day afterwards? The gears in his mind were _turning_ but they had no goal in mind, a useless repeat of thoughts. ~~

"If you need help," Minato-sensei said, voice ice cold from the seriousness, "With _anything,_ use it." Kakashi had nodded, trying to understand _how how how how-_

 

Rin was kidnapped. He stared, frozen. A repeated nightmare? A nightmare in a nightmare? Was Obito going to die again? When he had snapped out of his trance, Obito was yelling something ~~familiar~~  about trash and how he would be better. He gulped, taking a deep breath, before sighing. "And, I believe the Whi-"

"Alright."

"-Te Fang was---" Obito paused mid-sentence, blinking dumbly. " _Huh?_ "

"I said _alright,_ " Kakashi snapped, walking, briskly, past the other. "Hurry up or I'll leave you behind," He paused, " _Idiot._ " Obito sputtered before rushing to keep up with him.

He had anticipated the attack that would blind him in one eye, instead protecting Obito with his ~~father's~~ tanto, the _correct_ way to protect oneself or another. Still, he had gotten hurt, only that time stabbed in the arm. He would be _fine_ ~~probably~~  but it didn't matter because he had to make sure that the nightmare didn't repeat itself. ~~It did.~~

Obito got crushed, once again, only _that time_ he wasn't pushing Kakashi out of the way, he just.. Tripped on a rock.

He _tripped_ on a _rock_ and then _died._ He stood in place, limbs unmoving, as he watched Obito sputter out the words he had heard before in what was supposed to just be a nightmare.. He wasn't sure whether he should have laughed or cried, so he did neither, instead just _staring_ as Obito coughed and the walls continued to fall down, as his teammate died. Again.

His vision went _red_ and the next thing he knew, he had killed every Iwa ninja in the vicinity. When Minato had come, trying to comfort him, he had laughed hysterically, covering the rest of his face with his hands as the tears _finally_ started to spill.

("He-He _tripped,_ " Kakashi wheezed, hands covered in _so much blood_ and only dripping more as salt and water tried to wash it down. "He died because he _tripped_ -" His voice broke as he burst into sobs, inconsolable despite his teachers well-meant attempts. He had just watched- who he only recently found out was he his _best friend_ \- Obito die _twice._ )

 

He woke up, in the exact same place as before. _His_ puppies startling once more before attempting to climb to his face, to lick and nudge the tears away. Little noses rubbed against him as they whined, trying to understand _why_ he was crying, but he only continued to sob silently, brushing his fingers through their fur in an attempt to calm himself. It took until dawn before the tears had stopped, until dawn for him to finally force himself out of bed, until dawn for him to put on his armor again. He was so, so tired despite knowing that he had gone to sleep early the night before, just to make sure he had enough energy and time to meet at the designated spot and do the mission. It didn't help, did it?

 

Kakashi had always been a respectful child, even after he buried it under a cold exterior, so, even though he didn't speak at all before then, he still gave his appreciation for their gifts. Though, he had to admit, it was in a very _strange_ way, but that didn't matter. He wasn't sure what _did_ matter, to be truthful. He knew that the day seemed to be in a repeat and he did not understand why. He hoped, he did, that he would wake up one day and it would have just been some sort of genjutsu induced dream.

 

Right off the bat, Kakashi went about the mission differently than the times before. He didn't charge at the clones to show off a _failed_ jutsu, instead backing Minato up, though the man really did not need it. Because of that, his arm did not get injured, so they advanced quicker than before. The ninja got less time to try and steal Rin, but they did it anyways. _Fuck._

"We have to go after them!" Obito hissed, "We have to save Rin!" He went to follow with little objection.

"You're going the wrong way," He said, voice low enough that the cracks in it were barely audible, and then pulled Obito into the right direction. "We'll have to hurry."

 

The cave smelt surprisingly clean when they got there, but he could still smell flowers and herbs that stung his nose like the air of winter. He could still smell _Rin._ So he went in, Obito following him, and tried to sneak. It was useless, of course, because Obito _sucked_ at stealth and ended up alarming the Iwa-nin. He hissed, throwing kunai that the men's heads, taking no time to run over to Rin, pulling her out of the genjutsu and bonds quickly. They just needed to get out without one of them dying, then they _should_ be fine. He threw four shuriken before attempting to use a suiton jutsu while Obito tried to defend himself. They needed out out out out-

Before he knew it, he was in front of Obito, snarling at the men. "Stay _away,_ " He had _growled,_ "From **_my_ ** pack!" That didn't distract them for very long. They blinked out of their stupor and one of them had _laughed_ at him, so he adjusted his blade.

"What are you? A _mutt_ ?" Oh, if they didn't already kill Obito two times then that would not have set him off, but instead, he lunged at the one who spoke, working on instinct alone as he tried to rip their throats out. They were far stronger than him through, far taller and smarter with _much_ more experience as Shinobi. It shouldn't have surprised him when the last one left managed to pin him to the ground, ignoring his blood streaked arms from Kakashi’s scratching. It shouldn't have surprised him when he saw a knife coming and heard his _pack_ scream something.

 

It shouldn't have surprised him when he woke up in his bed at two in the morning.

 

Everyone got there before him and he blinked, frowning. He was _sure_ he got there early so how- Obito and Rin both looked shaken and he wasn't sure _why._ "Kakashi-kun," Rin spoke hesitantly, "Are you- Are you _alright_ ?" He gave them an odd look before nodding, he was as fine as he _could_ be with the... Loop thing going on. They stared at him suspiciously before the tension released in their shoulders. "That's good," She laughed, "I don't know why I was so worried." Minato had smiled.

 

Despite the _different_ morning, which had unsettled him in all reality, he had tried to do the same as he had the last time. After all, last time they had almost gotten out, and, maybe, if he _did_ get them out, the loop would _stop._

 

It didn't help. He had _tried_ his best, but everyone was off. _Everything_ was off. They went after Rin immediately, but apparently that time the Iwa-nin decided to not spare her. Instead, they both found her covered with crimson and eyes blank. He didn't try to let himself panic, first checking if she was still breathing ~~she wasn't~~  while Obito went ballistic. He wasn't the one to kill all of the ninja that time and when Minato arrived, he went straight to the Uchiha after seeing Kakashi sit near her corpse and Obito gone. He could understand.

("I-" He could hear Obito sob, "I didn't get to _tell_ her..!" He, quickly, got up walked away, feeling as if he was intruding.)

 

He woke up. The day restarted. He felt like he was going to go _insane._

 

Obito died again. Only, that time, it wasn't because of a boulder. Still, the Iwa-ninja had killed him _again._ Rin was dead as well, _again._ He was the worst leader to ever exist, his team (his pack) kept dying and it _had_ to be his fault. It _had_ to be. He fell to his knees, eyes blank as he stared at the people he couldn't even _remember_ killing, before he tried to pull himself together and crawled over to Obito, too shaken to trust his legs. "I'm sorry," He whispered, voice cracking as he picked him up and, walking on his knees, set him down beside Rin. He curled up in a ball between them, sitting in the cooling blood. "I'm sorry." He repeated, unsure why the tears just wouldn't come.

 

He had closed his eyes for just a moment and he woke up back at home, puppies sleeping by his sides and everything. He had come to expect that, even if it still managed to make him panic for just a moment.

 

Kakashi couldn't help but wonder, through the loops, how things would go if he just _didn't_ follow Obito. When he had tried, his determination dropped within minutes, instincts _screaming_ at him to _go go go go_ they were going to _die_ again! So he ran and pushed Obito out of the way. Rin pleaded, Obito was frozen, and he apologized through the blood.

 

He woke up at home again. He cried.

 

That time, he had refused to leave the house. It didn't change anything much, Minato had a talk with him, trying to convince him that whatever it was, it was _just_ a nightmare and everyone would be okay. _Sage,_ if only his teacher knew. Still, he forced himself to get up and do as told. ~~How many times had it been? He couldn't remember. When did he lose track?~~

 

Through extreme effort, he had managed to get the three out of the cave and into the woods where they could ambush the left-over Iwa shinobi. Kakashi breathed a laugh, that sounded more like a sigh, and watched the other two whisper to themselves. Did he do it? Would it finally stop? It was the first time that he had managed to destroy the bridge, and the smell of ash burned his nose, but he felt better than he had before. Still, something felt wrong.

 

Minato never met up with them.

He woke up to his puppies adjusting themselves.

He wanted to _scream._

 

Kakashi arrived a bit later than he usually would have, but he didn't pay much attention to it, instead pulling Minato away from the meeting area as soon as the man arrived. "You are the only one I trust," Kakashi confessed, but that only made Minato look concerned. "The whole day has been on repeat, sensei." The blonde blinked.

"On repeat?" Kakashi had shifted, giving his teacher a completely serious look.

"Yes. Everyone keeps dying." There was silence for a while and Rin calling for them dragged Minato out of whatever trance he was in. The Namikaze ruffled his hair.

"I'm sure they'll be fine."

 

They weren't.

Obito got crushed under a boulder again, and Kakashi just sat there. Watching. Empty. _Distant._ None of it felt real, even as he threw the Hiraishin kunai and was staring at Minato seconds later. "I told you." He heard himself say. "They keep dying." His teacher gave him a look before trying to comfort Rin.

 

He tried to tell Minato again and again, each time, the man seemed to get less certain with his determination to make Kakashi feel better. Each time, someone would die a different way. A blade to the neck, not moving because _what would be the point,_ rocks. He didn't even think that he would have to see so many different kinds of death, done to only three people. ~~Rin was dead, again. Obito screamed in~~ ~~_anger_ and _grief,_ the cry sounding less than human. ~~

 

He stopped telling his teacher after a while, but the man continued to look at him in concern, to try his best to make sure his team was alright.

"Are we?" He heard Minato ask him, "Are we really in a time-loop?" And Kakashi froze.

"Wh-" Did he remember? Was Kakashi not alone anymore? " _What?_ " Minato had a serious look on his face that the Hatake had been seeing all to often, but he blinked and it was gone.

"Sorry," Minato laughed, "I don't know why I was thinking that." His expression got distant, "I just feel like we've done all of this before."

 

Minato didn't seem to remember the next time. Maybe it was just a fluke.

 

("You have a heavy burden on your shoulders," He remembered his teacher saying. "If what you say is true then.. I hope you can find a way to break the loop.")

 

The feeling of watching his team die never really changed. It always brought so much _horror,_ making his chest twist uncomfortably and eyes _sting,_ even after ~~what might have been~~  the 50th or so time. What hurt the most, however, was the realization that he had come to expect it. He expected the empty feeling of failure, the rocks that would fall, one of them always being kidnapped. (The time that _he_ was kidnapped, it only happened once from what he could remember, they tried to coax answers out through genjutsu before crushing his fingers, one by one. They didn't really get an answer before he made a sloppy hand seal, pushing his everything, his chakra, out, and died.)

He had.. Come to expect _Obito_ to die. It still hurt him terribly, but... He at least saw it coming, always.

 

"We need to save her," He heard from Obito, again. Maybe, if he did the same as the first time, what he remembered of the first time, he could save them. He breathed in.

"No."

The walls fell in and Obito's speech repeated in his head. _He was worse than scum, he always had been._ He went after him anyways, Obito got his sharingan and then-- Obito was frozen. "How often?" Obito asked, voice cracking.

"How often what?" He bit, knowing that Obito had probably forgotten that they were fighting an _invisible_ man.

"How often have you watched us die?" Kakashi froze, turning quickly and giving him a look, despite his broken eye.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He ignored the crack in his voice and shoved his tanto into the man. Lightning sparked. Fried flesh kept him aware. He ignored Obito in order to get Rin out of the genjutsu cast upon her.

"How often had you tried?" He heard Obito shout after him, his voice echoing within the cave. He stayed quiet, pressing a hand on her shoulder and dispelling the jutsu cast upon her. "Kakashi," Obito said softly, face unbelievably sad. "How many times have we died?" His breath hitched in his chest as he gave him an alarmed look.

"We need to get out," He sheathed the tanto, hesitating for a moment, and then whispered, " _Please._ " Obito frowned but listened, Rin was confused, and Kakashi wasn't really sure what to do.

When they had finally managed to get out, Obito started to ask question after question. He _had_ been hoping that he wouldn't be alone in it, but.. He didn't even know how to respond to the questions. "Stop!" He finally snapped, "You probably won't remember next time anyways."  
" _Next_ time?" Obito asked, voice high with disbelief. "How long, Kakashi? How long did it take for you to just _expect_ us to die like that, asshole?"

Kakashi stiffened before looking away, blinking his eye slowly. "Too long," Was his eventual, and hushed, reply. Obito gasped, mouth hanging open as he grasped for words.  
"...How many times..?" Kakashi breathed carefully.  
"I've lost count."

That short sentence was all Obito seemed to have needed to understand. Though, it must not have registered to him that Kakashi might not have wanted contact, because suddenly warm arms were wrapped around him. He pushed away quickly, albeit too weakly to have left the grip. Rin bit her lip from behind them, glancing between the two like they were strangers, as Obito tightened his grip around him.

Kakashi was frozen, adrenaline making his heart pound against his ribcage. There was no understandable reason why he was so frightened by the warmth, why it made his hands clammy and his eyes sting for the first time in ages. How long had it been since he had cried? How many often had time repeated itself since? He couldn't remember, he wasn't sure he wanted to. He had been wondering if he could cry again, if he truly wanted to, but within Obito's grip the ice that had been building up as time continued to set back had started to melt. "I'm sorry," Was all that he said, though it was barely audible.  
The tears were also warm, despite the liquid coldness that he felt within, as he let himself relax and lean against the other. "Kami, bakashi." He heard Obito say, yet it felt distant, as if it was never truly spoken. Was it even real? Sage, he hoped it was. He _wanted_ to not be alone anymore.

 

He woke up.

  
His room felt more like a cage than anything, despite the books on the shelf that he used to find enjoyment in and the soft scent of lavender that had often lulled him to sleep.  
  
Obito didn't seem to remember much, but he was twitchy, as if he could _feel_ that something was going to go horribly wrong. He stayed silent.

 

Two (or was it five?) loops later, and Obito wouldn't stop staring at him, Minato was _always_ concerned, and Rin seemed about ready to heal him on the spot. He didn't look _that_ bad, did he?

 

Obito, Obito, Obito. Why did it always seem to be Obito? Kakashi looked, expression blank and chest empty, at the floor covered in blood. Rin whimpered something, the fear in her voice making the hairs on his arms rise, but he paid no mind. Instead, he laughed, _giggled,_ to himself. Always, always, _always_ Obito. That idiot. What was the point of trying to save them? Why did he even try? They were all just going to die anyways and there was no proof that it would end if he they lived.

He just wanted to see tomorrow, was that too much to ask?

 

He turned despondent, replying to nothing, not even a slap to his cheek that he could hear muffled apologies for. He felt like he was underwater, the sounds practically silent but still there, the touch feeling incredibly fake yet still real, the blood on his skin feeling like it was on foil layered on him. When would tomorrow come? He wanted tomorrow.

~~He had never realized how grateful he should have been that tomorrow used to come easily. He was sorry, so very sorry for any offence he must have done to the heavens.~~

He didn't know how many times the day passed by while he was in that state, he just knew that they must have. After all, waking up in the bed with vague memories of background noise and conversations he didn't remember speaking in was only something that would happen if time passed. Or would it have rewound?

He didn't know anymore.

He just… Didn't.

 

His attention turned to the boy with goggles who was.. Early? Kakashi stared at him for a while before tilting his head. Obito turned towards him and the red in his eyes practically glowed. He opened his mouth to speak but Obito beat him to it. “The grandma I was supposed to walk today said something about a box being too long and-” The Uchiha shrugged, “-I just _remembered._ ” Kakashi stared, unsure how to respond. Obito grinned sheepishly, something sad in it, “Sorry for leaving you alone again, bakashi.” There was an awkward silence before Kakashi gave a terribly small, broken smile.

“You’re late.”

 

It went differently that time. Not so different that he didn't know what to do, but different enough that it was noticeable. Kakashi was the one to get kidnapped that time, since Rin was so heavily guarded by Obito. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch, aware of the genjutsu. Aware of how the mud that was burying him alive wasn’t real, and stabbed the hand reaching to towards him through it. He heard a pained yelp and the genjutsu shattered into pieces, each falling to the ground like broken shards of glass before disappearing. He heaved himself up, snapping his arms out of the bondage, and pulled the kunai out of the man’s wrist. What an idiot that man was, not moving until Kakashi finally pulled it out, the Hatake could finally track the scent of his blood. Though, to be truthful, the man was an idiot for letting Kakashi stab him in the first place.

He twisted the kunai between his fingers, setting it into place, before throwing it towards the shadow on the wall. The man moved easily, but he had expected that, ~~what a surprise,~~  having thrown another only feet from the previous mark. The second kunai forced the man backwards, landing, moment later, inches away from where he would have been. The smell of blood was easy to track, so he lunged towards it, pulling a shuriken out and throwing it into the man’s foot.

He could hear a pained hiss as the man turned visible, but spared no time, kicking him in the face. There was an audible snap and he held back a wince, flipping off his face and landing on his two feet, his free hand used as support as he reached into his pouch once more. He threw another shuriken towards the man’s open throat, knowing full well that, if the man snapped out of the pain, it would not land.

 _Shit,_ he swore mentally, _he had almost forgotten about the other man._ He was just in time to dodge retractable blades, the earth flying from where he stood previously. He twisted, throwing a few kunai, and pulled out the tanto. Pressing chakra into the blade, it burst into light, momentarily blinding the others in the cave. He pulled the chakra back and turned the room into darkness, running towards the second man and stabbing through the back. He flashed the room again with his chakra and ran towards the other source of blood, swiping the white blade over the skin and only pulling it back when the stench of gore was strong enough to know that both men were dead.

He pulled away from the men, stumbling on his aching foot, and tried to hold back a tired sigh. Killing the same people over and over again was exhausting, he already knew most of the things they had to offer and he always exerted almost the same amount of chakra. Though, that time, he was running low. He fumbled through the cave, picking up and cleaning his used weapons, and repressed what little chakra he had left, sneaking out of the cave. “Oh,” He breathed, the sight of his team hiding in the bushes making him relax alarmingly quick, “That's good.” And he fell.

 

He he came to the awareness of that he was lying down and held his disappointment, opening his eyes to see his team hovering over him. Oh. That was different. “How long had I been out?” He asked, already checking over himself for injuries despite how foggy his mind felt.

“Only about ten minutes,” Rin responded softly, setting his legs down, “Do you feel any pains or confusion?” He finished his self-check up before shaking his head. “Your chakra feels dangerously low, Kakashi-kun.” She whispered, “Do you need a transfusion?” He shook his head again, standing up uneasily.

“I'm fine,” He _was,_ the relief he felt that he wasn’t back in his house was enough to make him breathe a little easier. He gave a look to Obito and he seemed to understand, giving a smile in response. “The mission is what is truly important.” What was it again? He knew Minato had told him only hours earlier but he couldn't remember. He pulled out his map and tried to remember what they were supposed to do, scanning the general area for clues. He tucked it back into his pack and turned. “Let’s go.”

 

The bridge was destroyed. The bridge was _destroyed! They did it!_ He watched it crumble into the water, explosive residue burning his everything as he breathed. He hoped that they would finally be free, that Minato would be fine and the horrible nightmare he had been living in would be over. Kakashi held his breath as the night went by, hoping that the other jounin would meet up with them and the next morning would come. Obito sat next to him as the fire in front of him continued to burn, grinning in that strange way of his. “Do you think it'll be over?” The other had asked, his voice quiet enough for the fire to crackle over. He glanced over to him before shaking his head.

“No,” He responded, “I don't, but..” He paused, listening to the world around him for the first time in what felt like forever, “I could hope.” Obito grinned.

“I believe.” Kakashi shook his head, unable to hold back the small smile of his.

“Idiot.” Obito's grin only widened.

 

Minato came, waving at them with a wide smile. “I'm glad that you all are safe,” The man laughed. “I was a bit worried.” Kakashi let the held breath release as midnight passed, leaning onto his best friend.

They were _free._


End file.
